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In the pursuit of optimal vitality, many health-motivated people reach for food they think is good for them. Unfortunately, many such so-called healthy choices turn out to be less beneficial than we assume. Because they often involve swapping fats and sugars for a slew of chemicals, they may actually undermine, rather than support, your health goals.

Not quite sure how well you’d score on a healthy-eating pop quiz? Here are the subjects on which many well-intended eaters remain confused, and a review of the often misunderstood gaps between hype and reality.

1. Low-Fat Dressings

Hype: When studies in the early ’90s found that salad dressings were a surprisingly high source of fat in women’s diets, food makers rushed in to offer low-fat options. Today, dozens of low-fat and fat-free salad dressings crowd supermarket shelves, and one in three women (and one in five men) say they always opt for low-calorie dressings. The appeal of low-fat and fat-free dressings is the notion that they are in some way “heart healthy,” cholesterol reducing or helpful in supporting weight loss.

Reality: You’re better off making or buying salad dressings with a healthy dose of high-quality oils or natural fats such as olive oil or grape-seed oil, and even augmenting your salad with additional ingredients rich in healthy fats (think nuts, seeds and avocado). That’s because a well-built salad not only tastes great and satisfies longer, it’s a smorgasbord of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients. Striving to keep your salad fat-free, or even low fat, not only reduces the pleasure you take in eating the salad, but it reduces your body’s ability to make use of those nutrients.
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Coconut oil has been a widely used food staple of traditional tropical cultures including Hawaii and the South Pacific islands for centuries. These islands depend on coconut as a diet staple and make use of its milk, meat and oil. Coconuts provide a majority of these islanders’ food, but they are not alone. Around one third of the world depends on coconut products to some degree for food.

The Many Benefits of a Healthy and Holistic Oil

Coconuts are a healthy natural food that produces an oil high in flavor and numerous health benefits. Many people have used coconut oil as a supplement for relief from kidney problems, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer.

These benefits, discovered by Dr. Jon Kabara, are attributed to lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid found in coconut oil. These naturally occurring fatty acids have health enhancing properties and act as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, and antibacterial agents. This means an enhanced immune system for those who consume coconut products.
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1. Plastic packaging: Did you know that many lacerations and puncture wounds occur when people use kitchen knives to open hard plastic clamshell packages? In 2004, more than 6,400 people went to the emergency room for injuries resulting from plastic packaging.

2. Flooding: Did you know flooding can cause indoor air quality problems in your home long after floodwaters have receded? Microorganisms in floodwaters may present a health hazard. These organisms can penetrate deep into soaked, porous materials and later be released into air, causing illness and allergic reactions when inhaled.

3. Pools, spas, hot tubs: Did you know drowning is not the only common risk associated with swimming pools and hot tubs? One of the biggest risks associated with pools, spas, and hot tubs in homes is electrocution. Faulty underwater lighting, aging electrical wiring, sump pumps, power washers, and ungrounded vacuums are among the most prevalent causes, in addition to electrical appliances and extension cords that fall into the water.
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Coffee is the hot beverage of choice in Europe, the Americas, and the Arabic world, with tea occupying that position in Britain, China, and India. In Arabia, the oily coffee berries were used as a medicine and fermented to make wine almost 2,000 years ago. There are many legends about how the stimulating properties of coffee came to be recognized. One legend traces coffee’s first use as a beverage back to an Arabian monastery, where sometime around the 10th century a monk noticed a small herd of goats cavorting all night after eating berries from the coffee plants that grew wild in the vicinity. The monks brewed a concoction of the berries in hot water and found it helped them stay awake for their nightly prayers.

The practice of roasting the beans originated in Syria in the 13th century. Coffee arrived in Paris in 1643, and by 1675 the city had more than 250 coffee houses. By the 18th century the coffee bush had reached Brazil, which now produces more coffee than the rest of the world combined. Since then, coffee has become the national drink in many countries. It has been estimated that 25 percent of all adults in the United States consume more than five cups of coffee every day. They drink four times more coffee than beer, three times more than soft drinks, and millions of gallons more than milk.
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You’ve seen the error of your ways when it comes to sleeping in makeup. You’ve quit smoking, you’ve stopped tanning, you drink plenty of water, and you even make homemade avocado masks. You cleanse, tone, and exfoliate every day–but not too much, and only with the right products.

We do everything we can to keep the skin on our faces and bodies looking soft, supple, and young, but even if you think you’re doing everything right, there are some common habits that undermine even the most valiant skincare efforts. Before you spend more money on fancy facials, and before you rush out and buy another expensive eye cream or anti-aging potion, check to make sure you’re not committing one of these six skincare sins.

Taking Hot Showers

Pleasurable though they may be, long and steamy showers are terrible for your skin. The hot water washes away skin’s protective oils, leaving it dry, tight, and itchy. Using a harsh, soap-based cleanser in a hot shower is double trouble: the two conspire to liquefy and wash away the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin cells and sebum. To take it easier on your body’s largest organ, switch to a lukewarm shower. The lower temperature helps keep the stratum corneum from rinsing away, as well as ensuring that you won’t linger in the shower long enough to do any other damage.
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Reusable Grocery Bags

Many of us have gotten into the habit of taking our own bags when we do our shopping, but how many of us clean them after each trip? According to a study conducted by the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University, 97 percent of consumers never wash their bags. About 50 percent of the bags tested contained coliform (fecal) bacteria, and 12 percent contained E. coli. Especially since many people choose reusable bags to bring their lunch to work, to transport books or clothes, and for many other household uses, washing them after each use is the key to stopping contamination from vegetables or raw meat. Cloth bags can go directly into the washer and dryer, and recycled plastic bags can be wiped down with hot soapy water or treated with a disinfectant spray. Researchers also advise using each bag for only a single purpose—carrying raw meat, carrying vegetables, transporting laundry, or as a miscellaneous shopping tote.

Showerheads

Everyone loves a shower in the morning, but no one wants to get showered with bacteria. If you haven’t cleaned your shower head recently, though, this is what may be happening. A study at the University of Colorado at Boulder found that 30 percent of showerheads tested positive for Mycobacterium avium, a germ that can cause lung infections, and for other various bacteria and fungi. Since some microbes may be resistant to chlorine, the best way to clean a showerhead is to soak it in a diluted vinegar solution and then scrub the deposits away with an old toothbrush. Plastic shower heads are more prone to bacterial buildup than metal ones, so people with compromised immune systems are advised to consider switching if necessary.
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